Glucose control positively influences patient outcome: A retrospective study

The goal of this research is to demonstrate that well-regulated glycemia is beneficial to patient outcome, regardless of how it is achieved.

This analysis used data from 1701 patients from 2, independent studies. Glycemic outcome was measured using cumulative time in band (cTIB), calculated for 3 glycemic bands and for threshold values of t = 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8. For each day of intensive care unit stay, patients were classified by cTIB, threshold, and hospital mortality, and odds of living (OL) and odds ratio were calculated.

The OL given cTIB ≥ t is higher than the OL given cTIB 0.6. Higher cTIB thresholds resulted in larger increases to odds ratio over time and were particularly significant for the 4.0 to 7.0 mmol/L glycemic band.

Increased cTIB was associated with higher OL. These results suggest that effective glycemic control positively influences patient outcome, regardless of how the glycemic regulation is achieved. Blood glucose < 7.0 mmol/L is associated with a measurable increase in the odds of survival, if hypoglycemia is avoided.